Mumbai: The Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA) has strongly condemned the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) for issuing a summons, which was subsequently withdrawn, to Senior Advocate Arvind Datar over a legal opinion he had provided to a client.
In a letter released by honorary secretary Nikhil Jain, SCAORA voiced its “strong disapproval and unequivocal condemnation” of what it called an unwarranted intrusion into the legal profession.
Datar, it noted, is “a highly respected member of the Bar of unimpeachable integrity”, and hauling him before investigators for doing his job constitutes “a misuse of authority and an affront to the sanctity of the advocate’s role.”
The Association warned that the move “reflects a disturbing trend of investigative overreach that threatens the independence of the legal profession and undermines the very foundation of the rule of law”.
Coercive tactics against advocates, it added, “do not just target individuals, they strike at the institutional structure that ensures justice. Undermining the professional independence of advocates ultimately threatens the judiciary’s independence itself, as both stand or fall together.”
Citing multiple Supreme Court precedents, SCAORA reminded the agency that lawyers cannot be held liable for their clients’ alleged acts merely for rendering advice. “The ED’s action conflates legal advice with criminal complicity, a proposition that is constitutionally untenable and legally unjustifiable,” the letter said.
Such a precedent, it warned, would “paralyse the functioning of the legal system and erode public confidence” by chilling the ability of citizens to seek frank, independent counsel.
SCAORA denounced the episode as an “arbitrary exercise of executive power” and lodged a formal protest “against the outreach over the independence of the Bar and the judiciary”.
Last week, the ED issued summons to Datar during an investigation into a case of alleged financial impropriety involving a client. The summons was later withdrawn.
